Always watching for you

Get your daily diet of film and news on the latest blockbusters. Switch on information on your favourite TV shows. Tune into us for great music reviews. Game on as they say and update on the latest in gaming. We’re all about digital and the internet and keeping up to date with what’s in and happening.

Welcome

If, like us, you're obsessed with film and TV, mad about gaming and can't live without music, then Alwayswatching is a website designed with you in mind. These days, more and more of us spend much more time in front of a screen indulging in these activities than we do with our friends and families.

Whether it's on a TV, a laptop, a tablet or a phone; a screen is like a small window into a whole new world, one that we're unlikely to ever experience in our real lives. It's a place where we can find thrills, adventure, suspense and romance vicariously though the characters on-screen, safe in the knowledge that we'll still be alive and well at the end. In other words we can escape from our ordinary lives to experience the extraordinary without having to take a risk or move from our seats.

Images, whether moving or still are fascinating to humans and we can look many times and still see new things. We're used to seeing scenes from our own unique perspective and so we're fascinated when given the opportunity to see and experience life through someone else's eyes or imagination. Watching is learning and seeing what others see makes us feel more than ourselves.

We're always watching films and TV

We're obsessed with films and TV shows. Whether its multi-million dollar blockbuster movies or low-budget independent films; whether it's a Sci-Fi, a RomCom or an Action Thriller; we're watching. If it's a fantasy TV series, a sitcom or a reality TV show; we're watching. And we'll be reviewing it too. They say everyone's a critic and here at Alwayswatching we completely agree with that statement. We like to tell it how it is, in our opinion anyway. You won't necessarily agree.

We're always gaming

They say gaming is the nearest we'll get to the feeling of walking in someone else's shoes. Gaming is more than just watching, it's about taking control, making decisions and taking action. It's about doing things we never would in real life because we don't have to suffer the consequences. It's about belonging to a community with the same interests who compete with us. And it's also about learning because in games we make mistakes we learn from and we gain certain skills through repetition.

We're always listening to music

Humans enjoy music because it really can affect our emotions. That's because when we listen to music our brains release the mood-enhancing chemical Dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter which is released as a reward for certain human activities like eating or other pleasurable pursuits. When it's released it gives us feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. The more we experience these feelings the more we want and need them and so we can become addicted to their causes. Like music. Why we prefer some types of music, however, is another of those 'nature vs. nurture' questions.

At Alwayswatching, we're always watching out for new music. We don't all like the same singers or musicians or even the same types of music. However, we believe there's room on the music scene for everyone and everything.

Image and imagination

We are into images, whether they are still images in the form of photographs, or moving in the form of video or film, and like most other people, we find them fascinating, entertaining and compelling.

It has been welcoming to see how digital technology has not only maintained people’s interest in photographs and photography but in fact has massively increased the use and transfer of images across the many social media platforms. The big social media sites have made it easy to upload, save and share photos. The outcome has been an explosion of imagery, colour and imagination as the general public, amateur photographers and professional photographers take the opportunity to display their images and show their creativity and individuality.

At Alwayswatching, we watch and listen to most things so when you're looking for a review of any of the above media, someone here is sure to have seen or heard it and we'll be talking about it. Why don't you join us?

It would seem that online video is not only here to stay but is going to play a big part in the future of the internet.

YouTube is the big boy and is the third most viewed website on the planet after Google and Facebook. The latest figures released by Google show that over one billion unique users visit YouTube each month and in total over four billion hours of video are watched each month.

These figures are staggering and continue to grow as this popular site continues to catch the public’s imagination. That very public are uploading over sixty hours of video every minute to the YouTube site.

The phenomena is spreading across the world with seventy percent of traffic coming from outside of the US with the site being localised in over fifty countries and translated in over sixty languages. Over one hundred million people undertake a social action of some kind on the site every single week such as likes, shares or comments. There is also the growing interaction with other social media accounts and the statistics show that some seven hundred YouTube videos are shared on Twitter every minute.

How people are watching is also changing and you might be surprised to hear that there are tens of thousands of full length movies available for viewing. Mobile and tablet usage continues to increase at an incredible pace and twenty five percent of global views now come mobile devices. Live online video is the most popular and long form video seems to be back in vogue.

So there would seem to be a lot of fuss indeed over video. People love it and use it and it would seem the trend is for the love affair to continue.

It would seem that online video is not only here to stay but is going to play a big part in the future of the internet. YouTube is the big boy and is the third most viewed website on the planet after Google and Facebook. The latest figures released by Google show that over one […]

Review scene

Xbox One and PS4 head to head

Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PS4 continue to go head to head in the lucrative video game market to the benefit of the consumer as the competition between the two continues to drive up gaming performance and helps to keep prices competitive.

The respective fans will wax lyrical about the superiority of their preferred system but in the end is there really that much of a difference in overall gaming experience.

Console design

The Xbox is very much as the name suggests: it’s a box and not particularly attractive in its own right. It looks like an old video recorder with a slot at the front and cables at the back. The one thing it does have over the PS4 is the HDMI input for Live TV.

The PS4 is a touch smaller than the Xbox, of sleeker design with its dual part construction and optional iconic stand.

Prices

The Xbox is priced at a twenty percent premium over the PS4 in the UK. The PS4 camera which is an additional cost is less than ten percent of the cost of the console thus making the PS4 still the cheaper option overall.

Processors

Both systems are using AMD x86 octa-core CPUs and in fact they will also both rely on AMD for their future graphics processors. Memory capabilities show both running to 8GB RAM but with Xbox utilising DDR3 and PS4 with the higher performance GDDR5.

Controllers

Not much change from previous versions and not much to pick and choose between the two. This is all about personal preferences and what you’re used to.

Funding gaming and other purchases

With gaming systems and consoles running into hundreds of pounds many parents and game users find themselves having to borrow to fund their purchases.

Taken on its own this amount of debt is generally not a problem for most but when it is added to existing debt levels on what can often be tight budgets then it can cause difficulties and even lead to debt problems.

Consumer groups and debt advice organisations have highlighted their concerns over how easy it is for one additional item of debt to tip the cart and start what can be a downward cycle of debt. They point to the rise in the instances of debt arrangement schemes as a debt solution and the fact that bankruptcy and personal insolvency rates are still at worryingly high levels.

Best advice is to assess your level of debt before taking on any new debt and if you do find yourself experiencing problems then seek advice as early as possible.